VICTOR — Members of the Victor business community put their hands together to celebrate and honor winners of the 2014 Victor Business Awards at a luncheon Thursday at Cobblestone Creek Country Club. The event, hosted by the Victor Local Development Corporation (LDC), celebrated the success of 16 local businesses and owners, including 2014 Business Persons of the Year Tim Lochner and Tom Coller of Progressive Machine & Design, who were both unable to attend the celebration.

“They’re all great — all the businesses that are recognized are vital to the community,” said LDC Executive Director Kathy Rayburn. “We probably have 40 different categories that we could recognize, but we try to go between 16 and 20 award winners and mix it up between high tech and very small business. I think we do a good job representing that mom and pop store all the way to companies with over 100 employees.”

The Victor Business Awards event was launched in 2005 as a way to recognize Victors' dedicated small business owners who make a significant contribution to the local economy. The program is modeled after the U.S. Small Business Administration's business awards, and drew the support of officials on the state, regional and local levels.

“I love the representation at the head table,” said Rayburn, referring to Victor Mayor John Holden, Victor Supervisor Jack Marren, Sen. Ted O’Brien, Assemblyman Brian Kolb, Ontario County Administrator John Garvey and county Office of Economic Development Director Mike Manikowski. “It’s very important for the business owners to see that support.”

Master of Ceremonies Kevin Doran kept the event flowing smoothly and gracefully. Doran is also a past winner of the Shining Star Award, which this year was given to Tim Bryan of Mickey Finn’s Restaurant. John Welch, CEO of John Welch Enterprises and 2013 Business Person of the Year, gave “one of the best speeches we’ve ever heard,” Rayburn said.

“What I like is seeing past winners come back and support the event,” said Rayburn. “That means they enjoyed it and they want to support the other business owners.”

Rayburn spoke highly of all the award winners, but singled out Rapid Print and Marketing as being a great example of an enduring local family business.

“I have seen the transition of that business,” she said. “I have worked with Bernie and Dave — the husband and wife team — years ago, and I’ve seen the transition to Doug. I think they’re a phenomenal family business. They’ve been able to maintain and survive, and now the parents are enjoying retirement, so I love it. And they’re big supporters of Victor, too.”